Combined can opener and mug handle



6, 1938. J. WILKINSON 2,127,452

COMBINED CAN OPENER AND MUG HANDLE Filed July 20, 1956 Patented Aug. 16, 1938 UNITED STATES mrsnr OFFli'IE 5 Claims.

This invention relates to a combined can opener and mug handle. It has for its object the provision of an exceedingly useful and simple implement that will serve not only as an efiective means for cutting the top of a tin can but which will cooperate with the can when opened to form therewith a highly efiicient mug.

The use of tin cans as containers for beverages has become very common. Such beverages as beer, soft drinks of all kinds, and fruit juices are now dispensed in this way. The use of such containers can be vastly increased through the employment of the present invention.

One of the things that has made bottled beverages particularly popular has been due to the fact that the contents of the bottle can be consumed directly from the same. This avoids the necessity of carrying glasses or cups and the like and further avoids disturbing the contents by pouring. Through the use of the present invention, it is possible to obtain all of these advantages while employing the more practical tin can container.

It is conceded that a multitude of advantages flow :lrom the packaging of beverages in tin can containers. The tin cans can be packed more conveniently, are less expensive, and keep the beverage in fully as good condition as it can be kept in bottles. Furthermore, the beverages can be cooled with greater rapidity in the cans than in bottles so that real advantages flow from the tin can beverage package.

Various schemes have been adopted for opening the beverage cans. In all of the presentlyemployed schemes, however, it is essential to pour the beverage from the can into some other container for consumption. It is the purpose of the present invention to provide a combined opener and handle so arranged that, after the can is opened through the medium of an opener that forms a smooth bead at the top of the can, the handle will cooperate with the can and opener to provide a mug. Drinking mugs have been very popular, particularly for beer, for centuries.

Through the medium of the present invention, the conventional beverage can may, when opened, be converted into a practical mug that quite closely simulates a beer stein.

In one modified form of the invention, it is contemplated that a bracket arrangement be provided for holding the beer can and opener during the opening operation. Such a bracket arrangement can be provided adjacent a location where the beer is dispensed in cans.

In the more general form of the invention, no

bracket is necessary, however, and the combined opener and handle can be used on the cans regardless of location. The present invention is particularly useful in connection with the consumption of canned beverages in remote places, such as at picnics, beaches, and the like. It is possible to pack the cans of the beverage in a container to which has been added a cooling agent, such, for example, as dry ice, together with several of the combined openers and handles con forming to the present invention. Through the medium of this invention, the individual cans can be readily converted into mugs and the contents of the containers consumed directly therefrom. The invention is, of course, readily removable from a used container and can be reused on other containers at will.

The invention will befurther described by reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevational view showing the invention applied to a conventional tin can container;

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the invention; Q

Figure 3 is a top plan View of a modified form of the invention, a portion of the handle being broken away; and

Figure 4 is a fragmentary detailed view in side elevation of the cooperative bracket members disclosed in Figure 3.

Referring to Figure 1, there is shown a conventional tin can container i having the bottom head 2 and the top bead 3. My improved can opener combination is indicated generally at 4 and embodies the body portion 5 provided with i the guide bar 6 and carries the spacing member I together with the knife 8. A notched rotary feeding wheel 9 is also carried by the body portion 5. The axis of the notched feeding wheel 9 extends through the body portion 5 and is integrally connected with the rotary plate H) which carries the handle member H.

, The handle l l is made of spring steel normally tensioned awayfrom the can. The arrangement is such that the can opener 4 is clamped on the k edge is provided clear around the top of the can. No ragged edges or projecting fragments of tin are left on the can. The edge of the opened can constitutes a finished smooth bead of rolled formation which will protect the lips of one drinking the beverage from the can.

The body portion 5 is provided with an elongated slot I2 in which the feed wheel 9 and plate I0 are adapted to move as a unit to bring the feed wheel 9 into clamping engagement with the bead 3 on the can. The body portion 5 is also provided with a conventional stop pin I3. The general mechanism of the opener is more or less conventional, it being a particular feature of the present invention that the opener is of such character as will form a smooth rolled and sealed edge on the top of the can when opened.

The handle I I is provided at its lower end with a clip portion I4 of any suitable construction adapted to engage and interlock with the bottom bead 2 of the can. When the can has been opened, the handle I I is pressed inwardly toward the can .and the clip portion caused to snap under bead 2. As a further feature, the handle II is provided with the clamping screw member I5 having on its inner end a stop member I6 and on its outer end a finger grip member IT. The arrangement is such that, while the handle II is being used to actuate the feeding Wheel 9 of the can opener, the finger grip I 'I can be grasped by the operator and the handle I I used as a lever and handle member for rotating the feed wheel 9 to advance the can opener around the can or to cause the can to be fed through the opener, as the case may be. When the can is completely opened, the handle II is sprung into engagement with the can to cause the clip I4 to engage the bead 2, whereupon screw I5 is fastened to bring plate member I5 into engagement with the side of the can and effectively lock the handle thereto. The plate member I6 prevents the screw I5 from being removed from the handle II during the opening of the can when the handle II, together with the grip member I I, is utilized for actuation of the feed Wheel 9.

It will be observed that the arrangement is such that the can opener is eifectively interlocked with the top of the can through the movement of the feed Wheel 9 and the plate I 0 in the slot I2 of the body 5 and that the bottom of the handle II is interlocked with the can through the medium of the clip I4 and the screw I5. When the can is completely opened and the handle II interlocked with the bottom of the can, there is provided a very convenient, practical, and attractive drinking mug.

A slightly modified construction is shown in Figures 3 and 4. In the modification of these figures, the body portion 5 is provided with an extension carrying a complementary bracket connecting member I8 .adapted to engage and be held in position by the bracket fingers I9 on the brack ct arm 20 attached in any suitable way to the supporting wall. The bottom bracket fingerIS has a stop member 2| for limiting the downward movement of the complementary bracket member I8 carried by the body portion 5 of the can opener.

The modification of Figures 3 and 4 is particularly adapted for use in connection with a beverage dispensing device. It is not infrequent that beverages are dispensed from a cooling cabinet or the like in gasoline filling stations and similar places. By positioning a bracket arrangement such as disclosed in Figures 3 and 4 in juxtaposition to such a dispensing container, the ap-plicants invention can be most expeditiously employed. The tin can I is initially clipped or fastened to the opener, and the opener is then set in the bracket whereupon the handle I! is rotated and with it the feed wheel 9 which causes the can I to be advanced around in the opener and have the top thereof completely out out whereupon the opener and can are lifted from to be operated by movement of said mug handle to effect relative movement between a can to be opened and said blade, said mug handle being adapted, when the can is opened, to cooperate with the can to form a drinking mug.

2. A combined can opener and mug handle comprising a body portion, a cutting blade carried thereby, means for clamping the combined can opener and mug handle on the can including a rotatable feed Wheel for effecting, when rotated, a relative movement between the. can and the cutting blade, and a handle for effecting rotation of said feed wheel, said handle being adapted, when the can is completely opened, to cooperate with the can to form a drinking mug.

3. A combined can opener and mug handle comprising a body portion, a cutting blade carried by the body portion, a rotatable feed wheel carried by the body portion and adapted to advance the cutting blade with respect to a can to be opened, and a spring handle operatively associated with said feed wheel, said spring handle being adapted, when the can is completely opened, to be snapped under the bottom of the can and to cooperate therewith to form a mug handle.

4. A combined can opener and mug handle comprising a body portion, a cutting blade carried by said body portion, rotatable means carried by said body portion adapted, when rotated, to advance said blade around the circumference of the can top, and a handle for actuating said rotatable means to eifect the opening of the can, said handle being formed of spring steel and adapted, when the can is opened, to cooperatively engage the can to form therewith a drinking mug.

5. A combined can opener and mug handle comprising a body portion, a cutting blade carried by said body portion, rotatable means carried by said body portion adapted, when rotated, to advance said blade around the circumference of the can top, a handle for actuating said rotatable means to effect the opening of the can, said handle being formed of spring steel and adapted, when the can is opened, to cooperatively engage the can to form therewith a drinking mug, and means for effectively interlocking said handle with the bottom of the can.

- JOHN LEE WILKINSON. 

